


A Princely Ghost

by GalacticallyNonbinary



Category: Sanders Sides, Thomas Sanders
Genre: College AU, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-13
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2019-02-14 03:41:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12999084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalacticallyNonbinary/pseuds/GalacticallyNonbinary
Summary: "I thought you were a ghost for the past four months."





	A Princely Ghost

**Author's Note:**

> This is a gift for the sanders sides secret santa, it's for @meginoi on tumblr

Virgil clutched the strap of his bag as he walked across campus towards his first class of college.

It hadn’t exactly been a normal start to the year. For starters, the boy he was supposed to room with (a sophomore) hadn’t shown up. The day before school was supposed to start, Virgil worked up the courage to ask some of the older students about him. They simply exchanged knowing looks and a few quiet remarks.

“So he’s the kid rooming with Roman.”

“Roman Sanders?”

“Yup.”

“Wow.”

“Roman…”

And other assorted whispers that Virgil couldn’t quite make out. The emotion on their faces was hard to read. None of them would give him a straight answer about his mysterious roommate. Virgil had eventually given up, and decided to be glad he had a room to himself. In some small way, it made the impending year seem a bit less daunting.

In his first class, calculus, the boy he sat next to seemed like he already knew everything being taught. He breezed through the classwork and always finished his homework in class. Virgil started asking him for help, he had no idea what he was doing. Eventually, their conversations led to study sessions outside of class, and Logan became Virgil’s first friend of college.

The whispers floating through the air around Virgil, all containing Roman’s name, picked up as cold November winds swept across campus. And his roommate was nowhere to be found. Virgil was starting to think the boy had died. Judging by the looks people gave when they talked about his name, that wasn’t altogether implausible.

One day, he sat on Logan’s bed, thumbing through pages of his calculus textbook, and decided to ask him about it.

“So, I was supposed to room with this kid, Roman Sanders, and-” he was interrupted by a long groan as Logan took off his glasses and rubbed his face in his hands. “I’m guessing you knew him?” Logan gave a slow nod. “W-what happened?” Virgil spoke quietly, worried that Roman really was dead. Logan just sighed, a long breath of tired air that sounded vaguely like that familiar name that had been haunting him since the beginning of school.

_Haunting._

When the thought was cemented in Virgil’s brain, he couldn’t get it out.

That night, Virgil tossed and turned in his room, staring at the empty bed. Every creak on the floor made his hair stand up on end.

The next morning, he decided that it was official, Roman Sanders was dead and haunting poor Virgil from beyond the grave. The only logical conclusion.

December snuck up on him far too soon. The cold breeze and the old, drafty building didn’t do much to stop Virgil’s irrational fears concerning the ghostly Roman. With the semester almost over, deadlines and finals were looming over him like the tall trees on campus. But, with Logan’s help, he studied and got everything turned in on time. He even made it home to his family for winter break.

Still, the break was over far too soon, and on the last day, Virgil took his suitcase from his parents’ car. They hugged and doted over him for an embarrassing length of time, and even as he tried to worm out of their hugs, he found himself realizing that he was going to miss them.

Virgil lugged his bag up the stairs of the dorm. As he walked to his room, he saw two figures standing in front of his door. Going closer, he recognized them as Logan and Logan’s younger brother, Patton, who was a year older than Virgil. Logan nodded at him.

“Hello, Virgil.”

Patton smiled and gave him a peppy, “Hey!”

“Hi…” Virgil said, more of an afterthought than anything else. “What are you doing here?”

“We’re just helping out,” Patton replied, cheerily but unhelpfully. They walked into the room, putting the boxes down by the doorway. Virgil followed them, and stopped after taking only a single step into his room. Someone was sitting on the usually empty bed.

And that someone was talking in what seemed to Virgil to be a completely overdramatic and unnecessary fashion. Never mind that his voice made Virgil’s heart flip once or twice in his chest.

“…and there are far too many posters, the whole room’s so dreary. But I do love these paintings over here, I simply must ask where he got these, when he gets here-” Logan cleared his throat, interrupting his babbling. The theatrical boy turned his head, finally noticing Virgil gawking at him from the doorway. “Oh!” he smiled, a sweet and genuine smile, and Virgil suddenly found that his mouth was completely dry. He made a show of extending his hand for Virgil to shake. “Roman Sanders. Pleasure meeting you.”

Roman’s stilted way of talking should have been annoying to Virgil, but he somehow found it charming. As he shook Roman’s hand, he felt his cheeks heat up.

“You’re not dead,” he said dumbly. The others looked at him in confusion. “Well, everyone was talking about him like he was dead! Even you!” Virgil pointed an accusing finger at Logan. Roman cocked an eyebrow at the studious boy. For a moment, Logan seemed about to deny the idea that he had ever suggested such a thing, but he then seemed to remember the conversation they’d had at the beginning of November.

“Ah…I can see how you would have assumed that. No, I was not grieving, I was just…” Logan seemed almost about to say the word ‘sad,’ but refrained, as he always did, from using even vaguely emotional words. “Reminded of my annoyance at him for announcing that he was leaving us for almost half a year by texting us.” Here, he shot a pointed glare at Roman, who guiltily forced a smile and looked away.

“In my defense, who would pass up a study opportunity in France? I got to visit Paris, the city of love.” The way he said the words ‘Paris’ and ‘love’ made Virgil’s heart race more than he’d care to admit.

“Still, that was not the best thing to do Roman, especially after that stunt you pulled.”

“Stunt?” Virgil questioned. Patton started giggling.

“Yeah, it was an awesome prank, there was slime, and inflatable waterslides, and water balloons, I think goats were involved-” Noticing Logan’s glare, Roman laughed loudly and awkwardly, cueing Patton to be quiet. Logan sighed.

“Well, I suppose we should let the two of you get situated. And Patton, you still need to get unpacked. Goodbye,” he waved a stiff goodbye to Virgil and Roman.

“Bye,” Patton chirped as he was ushered out of the room by Logan. Virgil collapsed onto his bed, laughing slightly.

“What is it?” Roman asked.

“It’s just…” Virgil sighed. “I legitimately thought you were dead. Hell, I thought you were haunting the room.” Roman laughed heartily as Virgil let out an exasperated sigh. “I thought you were a ghost for the past four months. And now you’re standing in front of me, looking like a goddamn Disney prince-” he stopped himself, clearly not meaning to have said that much out loud. Roman grinned.

“Does that make you my princess?”

“As if,” Virgil scoffed, trying to control his heart, which seemed to be attempting to run a marathon inside of his chest. Roman started humming to himself, putting up his own decorations beside Virgil’s.

“Did you have nightmares about the mysterious ‘ghost of Roman Sanders?” he teased. Virgil groaned.

“Honestly? Yeah.” Roman chuckled and started to sing the tune he was humming, softly at first, but growing more and more dramatic as he continued.

 _“I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream…”_ He pulled Virgil off of the bed, dragging him in a waltz around the small room. Virgil tried to plant his feet to the floor, and he muttered his protests as Roman smirked and kept singing. _“…but if I know you, I know what you’ll do…”_ Roman stopped dancing, but held tight to Virgil’s hands. _“You’ll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream.”_ Virgil managed to wiggle out of Roman’s grasp, and dove onto his bed, hiding his blushing face with a pillow.


End file.
